Ms. Suja Suntharalingham
Ms. Suja Suntharalingham holds a bachelor’s degree in science and a master’s degree in public health. She has worked in multiple areas of the provincial government leading various strategic and policy changes, particularly in the health sector. Presently, she is Senior Advisor to the Ontario Provincial Treasury Board Secretariat, where she leads a team of senior economists in providing strategic and financial advice to the Treasury Board Secretary and Management Board of Cabinet on health and social infrastructure investments.
In recognition of her contribution at Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Ms. Suntharalingham received two Achievement, Commitment, and Excellence (ACE) Awards. Most recently, she was recognized for her contribution to team building through the Treasury Board Applause Award.
Ms. Suntharalingham is also actively involved in her community. She was Chair of the Board of Directors at the Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre in Toronto, where she participated in the 2014 United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women Conference and provided input for the challenges related to implementing the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals for women and girls. She currently sits on the Board of Directors at Sojourn House.
Dr. Pierre-Paul Tellier
Dr. Pierre-Paul Tellier grew up in Berthierville, Quebec, and Pembroke, Ontario. He studied biology at the University of Ottawa, and completed a residency in family medicine at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, where he developed an interest in adolescent health. As a result, he completed a fellowship in adolescent health at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.
Dr. Tellier has taught at various levels including undergraduate students in various health care fields, residents in different specialties, faculty development, and professional development. An associate professor at McGill University, he recently stepped down as Director of Student Health Services for the Faculty of Medicine to focus on more direct clinical work. He works as a family physician at the CLSC Côte-des-Neiges in Montreal and is considered an expert in the health of at-risk youth. For over 30 years he has been a volunteer physician at Head and Hands, caring for and lending a supportive ear to Montreal’s most marginalized youth, for which he won the Solidaires Citizen Involvement Award in 2014 and the Sovereign`s Medal for Volunteers in 2018. He also sat on its Board of Directors for 12 years, 10 of which he was Chair.
Dr. Tellier has been a board member and officer at Projet d’intervention aupres des mineurs prostitues, a board member at AIDS Community Care Montreal, was a founding board member at Passage, Inc., and was a founding member of Friends for AIDS. He volunteered for the CFPC’s Family Medicine Forum Committee from 2002 to 2017, spending six of those years as Chair. His most recent community work has been as a member and now Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Centre d’arts Rozynski, whose purpose is to ensure the promotion, popularization, and dissemination of knowledge about pottery and sculpture.